Monday, January 29, 2007
Lying in mathematics
One of the most profound things I now realize is completely true is that in areas where people can lie and get away with it, often they do.
And in mathematics, in areas where only people check people, people do lie.
It might be strange to consider that as I think a lot of people know that mathematics is HUGELY important to a lot of science and technology, so how can people lie about it?
Well, there they don't.
Where they can be checked with other than human eyeballs, the mathematicians are ok.
They don't lie. Their math works and we have the technology and science that proves it.
Those mathematicians are OK.
Where they cannot be checked with the real world, they are not.
They lie.
Now computers could check ANY valid mathematical argument, if they were allowed, as in, if people would program them to, but today as I type this post, mathematicians in areas where they only need other mathematicians claiming they are correct, don't have to worry about some damn machine checking them too.
But why not?
Ask them and see what bizarre and wacky answer you get because, well, they lie!
The real answer is they don't want computers checking them because then all of mathematics would be like the areas that are useful in science and technology, and well, people couldn't lie—claim results are true when they are not knowing that other people in it with them, who need the lies to survive in the field, will just go along.
Or ignore results from people like me because they can be nasty, vicious people who are nothing like what most people think, let alone brilliant.
As if they WERE brilliant, they'd WANT computers to check their research to remove the tedium from human beings who could do better things with their time than check behind other mathematicians, like figure out new math of their own!
And in mathematics, in areas where only people check people, people do lie.
It might be strange to consider that as I think a lot of people know that mathematics is HUGELY important to a lot of science and technology, so how can people lie about it?
Well, there they don't.
Where they can be checked with other than human eyeballs, the mathematicians are ok.
They don't lie. Their math works and we have the technology and science that proves it.
Those mathematicians are OK.
Where they cannot be checked with the real world, they are not.
They lie.
Now computers could check ANY valid mathematical argument, if they were allowed, as in, if people would program them to, but today as I type this post, mathematicians in areas where they only need other mathematicians claiming they are correct, don't have to worry about some damn machine checking them too.
But why not?
Ask them and see what bizarre and wacky answer you get because, well, they lie!
The real answer is they don't want computers checking them because then all of mathematics would be like the areas that are useful in science and technology, and well, people couldn't lie—claim results are true when they are not knowing that other people in it with them, who need the lies to survive in the field, will just go along.
Or ignore results from people like me because they can be nasty, vicious people who are nothing like what most people think, let alone brilliant.
As if they WERE brilliant, they'd WANT computers to check their research to remove the tedium from human beings who could do better things with their time than check behind other mathematicians, like figure out new math of their own!
# posted by James Harris @ 21:30 
